Forum Discussion
stomped...converting bearings to angles
Hello,
I can usually find a solution to what I am trying to do in excel but I am stomped on this one.
I have hundreds of entries that I need to convert from surveyor bearings (like N 37°42'17" W) to absolute decimal angle . I have the mathematical conversion down path but I am stomped on how to automate the calculations.
The sample bearing here is North by West meaning aiming North (0/360) and rotating towards the West (counter clockwise) so in this case the result should be 360 - the angle. If it were North by East then it should be 0 + the angle.
Using as a reference North as 0/360 with a clockwise direction there are 4 possibilities.
N by W (360 -angle)
N by E (0+ angle)
S by W (180 + angle)
S by E (180 - angle)
Here are a few sample entries
degrees | minutes | seconds | decimal | angle | ||
S | 28 | 25 | 37 | W | 28.42694 | 208.4269 |
S | 82 | 12 | 42 | E | 82.21167 | 97.78833 |
N | 45 | 0 | 0 | E | 45 | 45 |
As it is now I enter manually each formula to calculate the resulting angle.
I would like for the angle to calculate on its own based on the N-S-E-W directions.
Any suggestion on how to do this?